The last of The Pirate Bay’s founders has been arrested as he attempted to enter Thailand.

Five years after they were first sentenced to jail by a Swedish court, the three co-founders of notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay have all been arrested. Fredrik Neij, 36, had reportedly been in Laos with his Laotian wife since then. He was finally stopped at the Thai border in an attempt to enter Thailand.

“He was arrested yesterday evening as he was about to enter Thailand,” Colonel Panlop Suriyakulna Ayutthaya, commander of Nong Khai border post told AFP. “The Swedish government had asked Thai immigration to arrest him because he violated movie copyright causing US$5 million damage.”

According to ABC news, Police major general Chartchai Eimsaeng said Mr Neij had travelled to Thailand nearly thirty times since 2012 and had a home on the resort island of Phuket.

In a documentary about The Pirate Bay made in 2013, Neij spoke from Laos: “I can serve a prison sentence. But why do it if I don’t have to?” he said. “Why shouldn’t I stay here for 5 years? You can’t go to jail for something you haven’t done.”

The Independent also reported that the three The Pirate Bay co-founders Neij, Peter Sunde, and Gottfrid Svartholm, were originally sentence to one year in prison each and a fine of 30 million krona (USD4 million). After an appeal in 2010, they obtained a shorter jail time but with an increase of a fine – to 46 million krona (USD6.2 million). It is unclear if Neij will face a longer jail sentence or higher fine after his evasion of Swede law for these five years.

After the sentencing, the three co-founders then went into hiding. Sunde was arrested in June from a farm in Sweden and is serving eight months of jail time, while Warg was just sentenced last week to three and a half years in prison for an additional hacking-related crime.

The Pirate Bay is still accessible, though that might soon change in Singapore. According to TechCrunch, a self-declared non-profit group registered in the Seychelles is now running the site. So for all you torrenters out there: you won’t be stopped, but just know that the long arm of the law is unavoidable.

The Story Behind The Pirate Bay

A documentary about the file-sharing site, simply named TPB AFK (The Pirate Bay, Away From Keyboard) was made by Simon Klose in 2013. The film covers the story of the three The Pirate Bay founders and their work on the site while facing criminal charges.

The film has been made available on YouTube, and can be downloaded from – surprise, surprise – The Pirate Bay.